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Post Philosophy Statement

Maria Casas

College of Southern Nevada

March 13, 2020

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My personal philosophy statement has changed in many ways from my pre- personal

philosophy statement in the beginning of the course, because I have learned many concepts that I

was unfamiliar with. In the beginning of this course I knew some basic information on special

education since I have two children on the Autism spectrum. However, I did not know much

about other disabilities. Some of the disabilities I got to learn about were individuals with

Intellectual disabilities, Individuals with learning disabilities, Individuals with attention deficit

and hyperactive disorders, Individuals with emotional and behavior disorders, Individuals with

hearing and visual impairments, individuals on the autism spectrum, Individuals with a physical

disability and last individuals who are gifted and talented. Each chapter I would read had

different methods for teachers to use in their classroom and what aids, assistive technology or

accommodations could be used in each scenario. For example, I did not know that most of the

disabilities could occur due to prenatal contributions like maternal infections passed from the

mother to the fetus, while others are hereditary such as chromosomal abnormalities and last are

environmental conditions which are when the mother drinks alcohol and uses Illegal drugs while

pregnant. I also learned about the phases a parent goes thru when they are told their child has a

disability. Personally, I can relate to this because I went thru all stages and did not know there

was terms to this. The parent reaction to a disability covers 3 stages, the first is shock, denial,

grief and depression, the second is guilt, anger, shame and embarrassment, the third is

adaptation, acceptance and adjustment.

The role of the special education teacher is customizing their teaching strategies to help

each student with a visual, hearing, speech, learning and physical disability reach their

educational goals appropriate to their grade level. Special education teachers create IEP which
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stands for Individualized education program which is basically a detailed plan created by the

general education teacher, the special education teacher, parents and other educational

professionals to establish goals for a student and prepare a plan on how these goals will be

accomplished.

I personally believe students with special needs learn different from others. In fact, I

believe we all learn different. Some of us are visual, hands on, auditory learners and so on, but I

believe we don’t learn the same. Learning differently, I feel should not be considered a disability

because we are all unique in our own way. I feel special need students need collaboration

amongst the professionals to guide them in the right direction.

My goals for my students with special education needs is to meet their age appropriate

goals based on their grade level. My goals are to keep them included in classroom activities and

want them to engage in school activities and not making them feel left out. My goal is to assist

them to the best of my knowledge in areas they struggle with by creating effective lesson plans

and using the proper aids established for them to learn. My goal is to accept them in my

classroom and make them and their parents feel there is someone they can count on to help them

reach their goal and make a smooth transition to the next school year.

I believe collaboration, patience, and communication from teachers and parents are

qualities a special education teacher has. I believe the collaborations from general education

teachers and special education teacher are very important because they both have a plan and a

different instructional approach, and they could see which method is most effective for the

student. Next is patience, I feel personally as human beings we tend to sometimes feel anxious

when we don’t get the results we want, fast but, working with special needs students is different

every student obtain their goal at a different pace, therefore patience from teachers and parents is
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a very valuable quality to have. Last is communication, teachers and parents are important pieces

to the puzzle. Perhaps what a parent knows about their child a teacher won’t, therefore if they

work together, they can determine the most effective tools or methods to use to help them learn.

Yes of course, I believe that all students can learn. We all learn different. We are all

unique. We all have different likes and dislikes. Of course, we can all learn. The key is finding

the best way a student learns. What prevents him or her from learning, what tools can you use to

help them, when can you use these methods and most importantly, how will you use these aids in

the classroom setting.

Special education Teachers owe their students with special education needs inclusion and

acceptance from others in the classroom setting. The special education teachers should help

students with a disability feel included in school activities and accept they have different learning

methods and a learning pace.